Cbr18bingo Versus
Blood of Dragons is the thrilling conclusion to The Rain Wilds Chronicles featuring the showdowns readers have been waiting for: men versus dragons, old ways versus new, and that nasty, greedy abuser Hest versus Alise and Sedric.
The traders of Bingtown and the people of the Rain Wilds made a pact with the dragon Tintaglia years ago: Tintaglia would protect them from the warlike Chalcedean Kingdom and in return, they would serve her and any fledgling dragons that emerged from their cocoons. But Tintaglia has been MIA for a while and the Chalcedeans are acting up. The Duke of Chalced is deathly ill and convinced that the only cure for him is dragon blood. He is holding hostage the children of his courtiers, mutilating and murdering them if blood or some other dragon parts are not procured for him immediately. These men are desperate and as a result, some are trying to infiltrate the Rain Wilds, blackmailing Rain Wilders and traders who have information and access to the dragons. They do not hesitate to use violence themselves, and in Blood of Dragons, they have found a way to travel up the dangerous Rain Wild River in pursuit of the barge called Tarman, captained by Leftrin, the man who successfully shepherded the dragons and their keepers to Kelsingra. These Chalcedean marauders have co-opted Rain Wilds council members and have taken hostages, including Hest Finbok, son and heir of one of Bingtown’s wealthiest trading families. Hest is a selfish, abusive, conniving sonofabitch who married Alise under false pretenses and took Sedric as a lover, only to discard him when Sedric questioned Hest’s treatment of Alise. Sedric’s former involvement with some shady Chalcedeans has led a particularly ruthless assassin to Hest’s door, and now Hest and his family will be murdered if Hest does not help them track down dragon blood. The stuff that happens to Hest and his witless sidekick is pretty vile, but Hest is a survivor who is living to get even with Alise and Sedric and take whatever wealth he imagines they have accrued in Kelsingra. Gotta say, as much as I hate Hest, I love the scenes with him.
Meanwhile, Tintaglia, who has been off hunting and mating with the dragon Icefyre, has been injured by Chalcedeans and is desperate to find her Elderlings – Reyn and Malta Khuprus and Selden Vestritt. Reyn and Malta are likewise desperate to find Tintaglia, as their child – born heavily marked by the Rain Wilds – is in danger of dying. Tintaglia is the key to saving him. Selden, whom Tintaglia loved as her official bard, has been missing for a long time, and we discover that while on a trip with traders to find more dragons, he is betrayed by them and sold into slavery. Selden is chained, weak, starving, and living as a sideshow freak known as the “dragon boy.” When news of this reaches the court of the Duke of Chalced, his chancellor purchases Selden and convinces the Duke that drinking Selden’s blood will save him just as much as dragon blood would. There are some truly gross scenes here. Despite his enslavement, Selden finds a friend, Chassim, the daughter of the Duke who has been used as a pawn her entire life and has tried to lead a rebellion against him. Thrown together in a somewhat comfortable prison, it seems they have nothing to do but wait for their own deaths.
In Kelsingra, a hard winter has arrived, and only a few dragons, including Sintara, have finally learned to fly. The keepers are at a loss as to how to get the others to figure it out, and figure it out they must because only when they can fly can the dragons reach Kelsingra. And while Alise has been frustrated by her inability to learn everything about Kelsingra, the keepers/Elderlings in the making, are unlocking secrets. Rapskal and Thymara make some startling discoveries that will have enormous impact on dragons and Elderlings alike. The changing dynamic amongst the keepers/Elderlings and between them and non-Elderlings is very interesting and a source of growing tension. Rapskal, the ditzy, goofy keeper has turned into a bit of an Elderling snob, not helped by his growing and perhaps unhealthy interest in memory stones. Rapskal’s attitude and his obsession with the story of an Elderling called Tellator will cause problems for him with Alise and with his friends Thymara and Tats. Yet it cannot be denied that some of what Rapskal has uncovered in Kelsingra is vitally important to the dragons and their survival. The one final secret that needs to be unlocked is related to the Silver — a powerful liquid deadly to humans and even Elderlings but essential for dragons to survive.
The way Hobb ties all of these stories together is absolutely a wonder. I would love more stories set in the Rain Wilds and Kelsingra. I want to know what happens in the future with the dragons and the Elderlings they have created, with the nascent relationships that were forming at the end of this series, and the ways in which “civilization” (traders, Rain Wilders, the Chalcedeans) is going to have to change. I am in awe of this world Robin Hobb has created and the way she is able to connect characters and events from all of her series in The Realm of the Elderlings so coherently. These are stories I will definitely return to for comfort reading.
